Totalitarians

 PLO chieftains Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas learned well from the east German and Romanian secret police, which trained them in terror tactics, including Psyops and violence.

This week it was reported that the Palestinian Authority arrested the chairman of a radio station, in Hebron. His “crime”? Criticizing the evil Abbas (who has not stood for re-election in years).

Ayman Qawasmeh, the chairman of the Minbar al-Huriyya radio station, criticized Abbas and was dealt with accordingly.

Not that Qawasmeh is a good guy. According to the Jerusalem Post:

“In a fit of frustration, Qawasmeh on Thursday called on Abbas and Hamdallah to resign after the IDF raided his radio station in Hebron and confiscated equipment, accusing them of failing to protect PA-controlled areas in the West Bank. An IDF spokeswoman said security services raided the radio station because it was inciting violence, a charge that Qawasmeh has denied.

“’I call on PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the prime minister to submit their resignations and not to remain in their positions,’ Qawasmeh said in a video that was widely shared on social media. ‘[To] he who cannot protect his institutions and people, I say to them, sit in your house.’”

This is Thug-Life, Palestinian style. The situation in the Palestinian Authority is hopeless in terms of achieving a stable form of government for the Arabs. Add to the mix the toxic, violent competition between the PA, Hama, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and various other gangs, it is remarkable that the West has propped it all up for a quarter-century.

The pathological hatred for Jews and Israel has infected Europe always. Consider the myriad ways in which they aided the Arabs in their lethal fight against Israel—this from a 2016 article in Commentary:

“Ulrike Meinhof, one of the leaders of West Germany’s most notorious domestic terrorist ring, openly celebrated the PLO’s 1972 slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics as a great revolutionary deed. Two of those who assisted in a radical Palestinian group’s 1976 hijacking of an Air France plane flying from Tel Aviv—which was forced to land in Entebbe, Uganda, occasioning Israel’s Operation Thunderbolt, the most dramatic hostage rescue in history—were West Germans. Indeed, West German terrorism was a subject of obsessive concern in the country and across Europe throughout the 1970s.”

As the years wore on, cooperation between the Europeans and the PLO intensified:

“During the 1970s, the PLO and the affiliates on its Executive Committee, notably the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PDFLP), carried out numerous terrorist actions against the cities and towns of northern Israel from bases in southern Lebanon. They included particularly barbaric attacks on civilians in Kiryat Shmona and Ma’alot in 1974 and the Coastal Road Massacre of 1978 between Tel Aviv and Haifa. The attacks received extensive coverage in the global media. The celebrations of attacks on “enemy children” filled press conferences and radio broadcasts of the Palestinian organizations in Beirut and Damascus. American diplomats in those cities sent memos back to Washington describing the celebrations in horrifying detail. Meanwhile, East Germany’s diplomats in the region were in contact not only with Arafat but also with leaders of the PFLP and PDFLP. During these years, East Germany was joining the Soviet bloc in sending these groups weapons of terror, including thousands of Kalashnikovs, hand grenades, and abundant ammunition and in offering them military training and medical care.”

Point being, Arafat and then Abbas learned firsthand how to wage war against Israel on multiple fronts. It also solidified their own thirst for power and explains why, decades later, they resort to Soviet-style tactics in suppressing opposition media.

So long as Abbas and his evil ilk are in charge, there will be no peace in the Middle East. The latest arrest of a formerly friendly radio station chairman is enough evidence of that.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

Good Will?

For some time, there have been efforts to alert the international community to all the good Israel does, in myriad ways.

From technological breakthroughs (ever use a cellphone?) to medical advances that boggle the mind, the Jewish state is a lead innovator. Aside from all the other remarkable things about the country, the innovation offers an astonishing glimpse into just how much God has blessed His people.

Yet, continual reports come in outlining the world’s hatred of Israel. We’ve talked about this before, but I believe it’s very clear that anti-Semitism is a spiritual sickness.

Literally from Genesis to Revelation, we see a clear pattern that the Jewish people are a target of the evil one.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” (Revelation 12:13)

ow, we must remember that the vast majority of the people in the world do not believe the Bible. They either have no frame of reference, or they know what it says but reject it. So our invoking the Bible does little good with most. As a result, anti-Semitism flourishes.

America’s lead negotiator between the Israelis and Palestinians this week visited Israel and the Jerusalem Post reported the following:

“The world should hear about Israel’s quality treatment of Syrian patients in its hospitals, US Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt said on Tuesday after visiting Ziv Medical Center in Safed.

“’These are the stories of Israel the world needs to hear, and stories like this show how peace in the region can be possible,’ Greenblatt said after visiting the hospital, which has taken care of hundreds of Syrians wounded in their country’s civil war.

“According to a US Embassy statement, some 3,500 Syrian wounded have been treated in Israeli hospitals, including more than 1,000 at Ziv. Greenblatt toured the facility, and spoke with some of the Syrians being treated there.”

All well and good, and of course true. But I would argue that such efforts—to gain friends for Israel by touting its accomplishments—will not be a long-term solution.

Remember too in 2002, when Israeli commandos captured the ship Karine A, as it transported weapons to Gaza. The world was able to see in grotesque detail the mass of weapons intended to kill Israeli men, women, and children. Journalists were brought out to inspect the cargo.

Still the world hates Israel.

I have noticed something striking the last few years. Raw data and statistics (such as how many Israelis murdered since Oslo in 1993), along with narratives of individuals and families has not prevented Israel from being considered a pariah in most circles.

So I would advocate peace through strength, until the Prince of Peace arrives. Most of us pray for that, long for that. We are also labeled crazy for believing such.

Yet it will happen. I believe a proper understanding of reality and history—past, present, and future—is the key to a healthy mind in today’s chaotic world.

Have influence where you can, by teaching the Bible and its prophecies. Only then will people begin to understand just who the Jewish people really are.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com